Audio tone programmed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes

ABSTRACT

An eye mask for use to wake up and/or to go to sleep provides ease of cleaning or replacement without damaging electrical or optical components; different user selectable sunrise and sunset illumination modes respectively having blue-shifted and red-shifted spectra simulating natural sunrises and sunsets to assimilate the sleep/wake cycle to the natural rhythms of day and night; sunset and/or sunrise illumination modes that oscillate with fixed period or sequentially changing periods that correspond to brainwave frequencies that respectively facilitate going to sleep and/or waking and synergistically co-operate with corresponding sunset or sunrise light fields to help the user to fall into restful sleep or to awake refreshed and alert; and audio tone programming of illumination mode and treatment time and/or duration of therapy by a remote tone control generator.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of priority to U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 62/302,858 filed Mar. 3, 2016 of the same inventiveentity as herein incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is drawn to the field of sleep or relaxation inducing orawaking or wakefulness therapy devices, more particularly, to a remotelyprogrammable sleep and wake eye mask, and still more particularly, to anovel audio tone programmed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eyemask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Maintaining the wholeness and wholesomeness of the sleep/wake cycleday-to-day and month-to-month is essential to preserve personalwell-being and happiness as well as the productivity and good order ofsociety at large. In an ideal world, the rhythm of the sleep/wake cyclewould be governed by the natural order of each days sunrise and sunset.The artificial routines of modern personal and social life, however,have eclipsed the rhythms of nature making it the more difficult to wakeup and go to sleep at appointed times the more the exigencies of one'sown routines are in conflict with the natural cycle of things.

A variety of devices have been devised in the effort to control thefundamental sleep and wake rhythms of the sleep/wake cycle in the faceof the irregularities imposed thereon by the demands of modern life.Representative of such devices are the Sunrise Simulation Sleep Mask ofUnited States patent application publication 2012/0137406 to Hide, datedJun. 7, 2012; the Programmable Mask for Waking An individual of UnitedStates patent application publication 2007/0002692 to Van Brunt, datedJan. 4, 2007; and the Relaxation Inducing Sleep Mask of U.S. Pat. No.8,852,073 to Genereux et al., dated Oct. 7, 2014, each incorporatedherein by reference. Reference in this connection may also be had to theNeuroon Intelligent Sleep Mask having a removable “smart pack,”commercially available at https://neuroon.com.

The Hide and Van Brunt devices include a sleep mask having white LEDsand a controller cooperative therewith to wake the user in the morningwith a rising, time-phased increase in intensity of white light. Thecontroller can be a component integrally built into the mask and/orconnected to the mask via a Bluetooth link. The Neuroon IntelligentSleep Mask has a wake-up sunrise sequence and includes a Bluetoothconnection to a mobile phone application used to determine controlparameters, and provides different biometric sensors that are used tocollect data on sleep time and states. A brightening sequence to providecontrolled awakening from a nap is also disclosed by the Napwell EyeMask Napping System, commercially available at http://napwell.com.

The heretofore known devices and techniques, however, have beendisadvantageous in one or more of the following particulars. The costhas not been desirably low enough, due to the cost incurred by inclusionof time and alarm displays and multiple time and alarm set buttons andswitches and costly electronics modules and Bluetooth communicationinterfaces, which has pushed their availability beyond the bounds ofaffordability for many consumers; the wake-up and go-to-sleep techniquesemployed thereby have not been entirely effective to simulate thesunrises and sunsets of nature, which has limited their ability toassimilate the sleep/wake cycle to the natural order and rhythms ofnature; they have been uncomfortable to wear, or too heavy or cumbersometo use; and/or the utility of the heretofore known eye masks has beenlimited by the fact that once they became soiled during use, it is notbeen generally possible to maintain hygiene beyond superficial cleaning,which sometimes required a replacement product be acquired or thecompromise made to continue to use sometimes even badly soiled eyemasks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention is to provide low-cost therapeuticsleep and wake eye masks.

This object is accomplished by the present invention by employing onecontrol button and a low-cost programmable tone generator and tonecommunication protocol thereby eliminating costly time and alarmdisplays and Bluetooth communication interfaces.

Another object of the present invention is to make the therapeutic sleepand wake eye mask itself hygienic and readily cleanable.

This object is accomplished by the present invention by means of a maskassembly including a replaceable and/or washable or otherwise cleanablecover subassembly and an electro-optical core subassembly that isremovably inserted therewithin. When soiled, the cover subassembly maybe removed and cleaned or replaced with another cover subassembly if itwere too soiled to be cleaned. This feature among others also allows forthe advantage of replacement of cover subassemblies for purposes otherthan hygiene, such as to make a fashion statement or to select a coversubassembly that is finished to a different comfort or material grade.

A further object of the present invention is to disclose a therapeuticsleep and wake eye mask that provides simulated sunrise and sunsetmultimodes to assimilate the sleep/wake cycle to the natural rhythm ofthe day/night cycle. This object is accomplished by the presentinvention by means of an electro-optical core subassembly including anelectronics module and full-spectrum red, green and blue LED lightpanels cooperative to provide full-spectrum light fields of intensitysufficient to be biologically effective of blue- and red-shifted spectraconfronting the eyes when the mask is worn about the head respectivelyto simulate sunrise and sunset in different user selectable sunrise andsunset multimodes. Although red, green and blue LED panels are presentlypreferred, other means to provide full-spectrum cavity illumination inblue-shifted sunrise and red-shifted sunset multimodes could beemployed.

In one disclosed sunrise mode, the electro-optical core subassembly isoperative to illuminate the eyes with a biologically effective sunriselight field with blue spectral components simulating a natural sunriseof increasing magnitude starting at a time and lasting for a durationthat corresponds to a desired wake-up time sequence.

In another disclosed sunrise mode, the electro-optical core subassemblyis operative to illuminate the eyes with a biologically effectivesunrise light field with blue spectral components simulating a naturalsunrise of increasing magnitude that repetitively oscillates with aconstant period corresponding to the brainwave frequency of someone whois waking up or is awake or is alert starting at a time and lasting fora duration that corresponds to a desired wake-up time sequence.

In a further disclosed sunrise mode, the electro-optical coresubassembly is operative to illuminate the eyes with a biologicallyeffective sunrise light field with blue spectral components simulating anatural sunrise of increasing magnitude that repetitively oscillateswith a progressively decreasing period that sequentially corresponds tothe brainwave frequency of someone who is waking up to someone who isawake or alert starting at a time and lasting for a duration thatcorresponds to a desired wake-up time sequence.

In one disclosed sunset mode, the electro-optical core subassembly isoperative to illuminate the eyes with a biologically effective sunsetlight field with red spectral components simulating a natural sunset ofdecreasing magnitude starting at a time and lasting for a duration thatcorresponds to a desired sleep sequence.

In another disclosed sunset mode, the electro-optical core subassemblyis operative to illuminate the eyes with a biologically effective sunsetlight field with red spectral components simulating a natural sunset ofdecreasing magnitude that repetitively oscillates with a constant periodcorresponding to the brainwave frequency of someone who is relaxed or isasleep starting at a time and lasting for a duration that corresponds toa desired sleep sequence.

In another disclosed sunset mode, the electro-optical core subassemblyis operative to illuminate the eyes with a biologically effective sunsetlight field with red spectral components simulating a natural sunset ofdecreasing magnitude that repetitively oscillates with a progressivelyincreasing period that sequentially corresponds to the brainwavefrequency of someone who is relaxed to someone who is asleep starting ata time and lasting for a duration that corresponds to a desired sleepsequence.

In any sunrise and sunset mode having constant and variable period lightfields, after the passage of a certain time interval, the brainwavefrequencies of the user will become more and more entrained to thefrequencies of the corresponding illumination oscillations, with theresult that at some time the desired state will be synergisticallyinduced.

A related object is to disclose a remotely programmable therapeuticsleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunsetmultimodes. This object is accomplished in accord with the presentinvention by setting mode and control times and other parameters of theprocessor of the electronics module of the electro-optical coresubassembly according to control information input that is remotelyentered to the UI of the low-cost tone control generator.

Other modes in different embodiments are contemplated including anafternoon energy boost mode and a circadian rhythm resetting mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other inventive aspects, objects and advantageous features ofthe present invention will become more apparent as the invention becomesbetter understood by referring to the following, solely exemplary,detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments thereof, andto the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an eye mask of the audio toneprogrammed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask havingremotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial view illustrating in the FIG. 2A thereof theproximate face of one presently preferred embodiment of an eye mask inaccord with the present invention, illustrating in the FIG. 2B thereofan exploded pictorial view thereof showing an electro-optical coresubassembly removed from but insertable within a cover subassemblyadapted to be worn about the head and to comfortably seat on the faceand illustrating in the FIG. 2C thereof an exploded pictorial view ofthe electro-optical core subassembly of the audio tone programmedhygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotelycontrolled sunrise and sunset multimodes of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the circuitry of one presentlypreferred embodiment of the audio tone programmed hygienic andtherapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunriseand sunset multimodes of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a state diagram of the processor of electronics module of theelectro-optical core subassembly of the audio tone programmed hygienicand therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlledsunrise and sunset multimodes of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates in the FIG. 5A-5C thereof graphs of intra-cavitylight magnitude with time useful in explaining the principles of thesunrise multimodes with biologically effective blue spectral componentssimulating a natural sunrise of the audio tone programmed hygienic andtherapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunriseand sunset multimodes of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates in the FIGS. 6A-6C thereof graphs of intra-cavitylight magnitude with time useful in explaining the principles of thesunset multimodes with biologically effective red spectral componentssimulating a natural sunset of the audio tone programmed hygienic andtherapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunriseand sunset multimodes in accord with the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating one presently preferred tone controlprotocol of the programmable tone generator of the audio tone programmedhygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotelycontrolled sunrise and sunset multimodes of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1, generally designated at 10 is an eye mask ofthe audio tone programmed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eyemask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes of thepresent invention. The eye mask 10 includes a member 12 adapted to beworn about the head and to comfortably seat against the face over theeyes of a wearer, not shown. The face-and-over-the-eyes-fitting member12 of the eye mask 10 includes walls defining light-tight left and righteye cavities generally designated 14, 16 and full-spectrum red, greenand blue LED panels 18, 20 mounted in the left and right eye cavities14, 16 in position to illuminate the eyes, not shown, of the wearer. Themask is intended to be used with the user's eyes closed and theillumination provided in each of the sunrise and sunset multimodes to bedescribed creates a subtle backlight through the eyelids.

In one presently preferred embodiment, each panel includes one red, onegreen, and one blue LED. As will be readily appreciated, when the red,green and blue LEDs of the red, green and blue LED panels 18, 20 aresimultaneously illuminated, full-spectrum white light would result.

The face-and-over-the-eyes-fitting member 12 and the walls defining theleft and right eye cavities 14, 16 of the eye mask 10 may be fashionedof any suitable flexible material comfortable enough to be worn aboutthe head of a user. Although walls 14, 16 providing left and right eyecavities and red, green and blue LED light panels 18 and 20 to providefull-spectrum light fields in the left and right eye cavities arepresently preferred, it will be appreciated that the walls defining theeye cavities can be differently configured, such as a single cavitycommon to both eyes, and/or a different full-spectrum source ofbiologically effective light fields having blue and red spectralcomponents than that of the presently preferred embodiment, such as anarray of one or more different point sources of white and/or coloredlight, or a single source visible to both eyes, that may include director indirect or backlit illumination, or color filters, among other waysto provide full-spectrum illumination and/or blue- and red-shiftedillumination known to those of skill in the art can be employed.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, generally designated at 30 is a pictorial viewof the proximate face of one presently preferred embodiment of an eyemask in accord with the audio tone programmed hygienic and therapeuticsleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunsetmultimodes of the present invention. The eye mask 30 includes a coversubassembly generally designated 32 including a first front portion 34of soft, flexible material fashioned to include walls defining openingsgenerally designated 36, 38 respectively confronting the left and righteyes of the user, and a second back portion 40 of flexible opaquematerial.

The portions 34, 40 of the cover subassembly 32 provide anelectro-optical core subassembly receiving chamber within the eye mask30, not shown, and an electro-optical core subassembly generallydesignated 42 including an electronics module, and red, green and blueLED panels 44, 46, is received within the cover subassembly 32 such thatthe left eye cavity 36 is illuminated by the red, green and blue LEDpanel 44 and the right eye cavity 38 is illuminated by the red, greenand blue LED panel 46. As will be readily appreciated, a zippermechanism 48 that releasably joins the top edges of the portions 34, 40provides access to the electro-optical core subassembly receivingchamber and the electro-optical core subassembly received therewithin.

Although a pocket formed in the mask to removably receive theelectro-optical subassembly is presently preferred, as is a zipper toreleasably retain the same within the mask, it will be appreciated thatother means than a pocket and cooperative zipper may be employed toremovably insert the electro-optical subassembly within the coversubassembly allowing removal of the electro-optical core subassemblyfrom a soiled cover subassembly and reinsertion of the same or anotherelectro-optical subassembly in a cleaned or replacement coversubassembly without departing from the inventive concepts.

Referring now to FIG. 2B, generally designated at 50 is an explodedpictorial view of the eye mask of the audio tone programmed hygienic andtherapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlled sunriseand sunset multimodes of the present invention. As illustrated by arrow52, the electro-optical core subassembly 42 is removably insertablewithin the cover subassembly 32 of the eye mask 30 via the zippermechanism 48. As will be readily appreciated, the cover subassembly 32in this manner may be replaced or readily cleaned when soiled and orinterchanged for hygienic or other purposes such as by coversubassemblies having different fashion finishes or comfort or materialgrades. As will also be readily appreciated, different electro-opticalcore subassemblies can be swapped out as necessary or when desired toprovide the same or another mode of programmed operation.

Referring now to FIG. 2C, generally designated at 60 is an explodedpictorial view of the electro-optical core subassembly of the audio toneprogrammed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask havingremotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes of the presentinvention. The electro-optical core subassembly 60 includes distal andproximal layers 62, 64 of light blocking material such as black clothand an intermediate layer 66 of foam or other comfortable orcompressible material adhesively fastened therebetween. The layer 62includes a cutout generally designated 68 intermediate it ends exposinga button and microphone, not shown, and cutouts generally designated 70,72 proximate it ends. The layer 64 includes cutouts generally designated74, 76 in spaced apart relation intermediate it ends and cutoutsgenerally designated 78, 80 proximate it ends. The intermediate layer 66is provided with an opening generally designated 82 to receive anelectro-optical module and an opening generally designated 84 to receivea Piezo buzzer, not shown, that are intermediate it ends and cutoutsgenerally designated 86, 88 proximate it ends. An electro-optical modulegenerally designated 90 having an electronics module 92 to be describedand left and right full-spectrum red, green and blue LED panels 94, 96is inserted in the opening 82 provided therefor in the intermediatelayer 66. A holder 98 peripherally captures the electronics module 86and LED panels 90, 92 allowing for the insertion of the electro-opticalmodule 90 as a unit into the opening 82 provided therefor in theintermediate layer 66. A button 100 is carried by distal surface of theelectronics module 92. A USB port 102 is carried at the top of theelectronics module 92 that faces upwardly and is made externallyaccessible by a channel generally designated 104 provided therefor inthe intermediate member 66. As will be readily appreciated, a headstrap, not shown, is releasably mounted to the aligned openings 70, 78,86 and 72, 80, 88, although other strap or head attachment means couldbe employed.

As will be appreciated, sleep masks of another construction, such asthose shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,852,073, incorporated herein byreference, may be employed.

Referring now to FIG. 3, generally designated at 110 is a schematicblock diagram of the circuitry of one presently preferred embodiment ofthe audio tone programmed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eyemask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes of thepresent invention. The electro-optical module is schematicallyillustrated by box 112 that includes an electronics module 114 includinga controller and program and data memory, each not shown, well known tothose of skill in the art. Left and right full-spectrum red, green andblue LED panels 116, 118 are operatively connected to the electronicsmodule 114. In different sunrise and sunset multimodes to be described,the electronics module 114 and full-spectrum red, green and blue LEDpanels 116, 118 are cooperative to provide sunrise light fields withblue spectral components of increasing magnitude in any sunrisemultimode selected to simulate a natural sunrise and to provide sunsetlight fields with red spectral components of decreasing magnitude tosimulate a natural sunset in any sunset multimode selected. So long asthe intensities are above biologically effective thresholds, thefull-spectrum light fields with blue-shifted spectra of increasingmagnitude signal the brain that the sun has risen and the body shouldprepare for daytime and the full-spectrum light fields with red-shiftedspectra of decreasing magnitude signal the brain that the sun is settingand the body should prepare for evening and sleep. Any suitablyblue-shifted illumination with intensity distribution of the cavityillumination intensified around the blue region of the spectra, such asfour hundred fifty (450) nm to four hundred ninety-five (495) nm, sothat the illumination appearing therein is substantially andpredominantly “blue,” could be employed. Any suitably red-shiftedillumination with intensity distribution of the cavity illuminationintensified around the red region of the spectra, such as six hundredtwenty (620) nm, to seven hundred fifty (750) nm, so that theillumination appearing therein is substantially and predominantly “red,”could be employed. A control button 120, an audio port 122 and I/Odevices 124 including a Piezo buzzer and REM sensor are operativelyconnected to the controller of the electronics module 114. The Piezobuzzer is provided to produce alarm sounds at desired times.

A programmable tone generator 126 is connected to the audio port 122 soas to provide a communication interface therebetween. The programmabletone generator 122, that is remote from the electro-optical module 112,includes a UI (user interface) and is used as a remote to control theprocessor of the electronics module 114 in accord with user input modeand control parameter selection as schematically illustrated by box 130.Any device with a controller, web browser and an audio output canprovide tone programming. The programmable tone generator may also be ahand-held, dedicated, tone control device. Preferably, the programmabletone generator 126 is an application adapted for use on an Androidsmartphone, iPhone, PC or other web enabled devices. Although aprogrammable tone controller is presently preferred, the remote controlfunction of setting illumination mode and operational parameters couldbe implemented by other communication devices and methods, such asBluetooth communication protocol, in alternate remote controlembodiments contemplated herein.

In different disclosed embodiments, the audio port 122 may be amicrophone and a USB port.

Referring now to FIG. 4, generally designated at 140 is a state diagramof the controller of the electronics module of the electro-opticalmodule of the audio tone programmed hygienic and therapeutic sleep andwake eye mask having remotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodesof the present invention.

In charge internal battery state schematically illustrated by box 142,the controller is operative to charge its internal battery, not shown,when connected to electrical power, not shown.

The set/program state is schematically illustrated by box 144. Theprogrammable tone generator application 126 is opened by the user andits UI is used to remotely set the controller of the electronics moduleof the electro-optical core subassembly for operation in a selected oneof the sunrise and sunset multimodes of the present invention. The UI ofthe programmable tone generator 126 displays fields, not shown, to allowthe user to select the alarm time, to select the desired duration of thesunrise light sequence, the desired duration of the sunset lightsequence, to select one of the sunrise multimodes to be described andamong others to select one of the sunset multimodes to be described. Thetone generator 126 is programmed to generate a uniquely coded tonesequence to be described to the electronics module 114 via USB cable132, when the audio port 122 is a USB port, and as an audible tonesequence schematically illustrated by wavy arrow 134, when the audioport 122 is a microphone. In response to a long press of the button 120,the controller of the electronics module 114 enters set/program state144 and is operative in response to receipt of the uniquely coded tonesequence to set its program mode and sequence parameters in accordtherewith.

In run mode unless reset state schematically illustrated by box 146, thecontroller is operative to run the mode selected at any times designateduntil it is reset to another mode or a manual override is input via thebutton 120 (FIG. 3).

With reference to FIG. 5, the sunrise multimodes simulating a naturalsunrise to assimilate the wake phase of the sleep/wake cycle to the dayphase of the natural rhythm of day and night of the audio toneprogrammed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask havingremotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes of the presentinvention will now be described. By sunrise light field illumination ismeant light fields produced by the eye mask's electro-optical module ofthe electro-optical core subassembly so as to illuminate the eyes of thewearer with blue spectral components simulating a natural sunrise ofphysiologically effective intensity in any sunrise mode selected.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, generally designated at 150 is a graph of thebrightness of sunrise light field illumination with time in one sunrisemode in accord with the present invention. In the sunrise mode 150, thebrightness of sunrise light field illumination with blue spectralcomponents simulating a natural sunrise is shown increasing inmagnitude, starting at a time and lasting for a duration thatcorresponds to a desired wake-up time sequence. For example, a typicalwake-up time sequence would be ten (10) minutes of increasingblue-shifted light in a first time interval to signal daybreak followedby a second interval of white light, not shown, to signal the light ofthe fully risen sun; thereafter, cavity illumination is turned off.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, generally designated at 160 is a graph of thebrightness of sunrise light field illumination with time in anothersunrise mode in accord with the present invention. In the sunrise mode160, the brightness of sunrise light field illumination with bluespectral components simulating a natural sunrise is shown increasing inmagnitude and oscillating with a constant period corresponding to thebrainwave frequency of someone who is waking up or is awake or is alert,starting at a time and lasting for a duration that corresponds to adesired wake-up time sequence. For example, the oscillations may occurat high Delta to guide the user from a deep sleep into a light sleep andan awakened state. The mind will slowly synchronize with the stimuli itis presented with. Presenting a frequency which is higher than thecurrent state will encourage the mind or brain into the state associatedwith the higher frequency.

Referring now to FIG. 5C, generally designated at 170 is a graph of thebrightness of sunrise light field with time in another sunrise mode inaccord with the present invention. In the sunrise mode 170, thebrightness of sunrise light field illumination with blue spectralcomponents simulating a natural sunrise is shown increasing in magnitudeand oscillating with a decreasing period corresponding in sequencerespectively to the brainwave frequencies of someone who is asleep tosomeone who is awake or is alert, starting at a time and lasting for aduration that corresponds to a desired wake-up time sequence. Forexample, the oscillations may begin in low Delta and speed up into highDelta to ease the user out of deep sleep.

With reference to FIG. 6, the sunset multimodes simulating a naturalsunset to assimilate the sleep phase of the sleep/wake cycle to thenight phase of the natural rhythm of day and night of the audio toneprogrammed hygienic and therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask havingremotely controlled sunrise and sunset multimodes of the presentinvention will now be described. By sunset light field illumination ismeant light fields produced by the eye mask's electro-optical module ofthe electro-optical core subassembly so as to illuminate the eyes of thewearer with red spectral components simulating a natural sunset ofphysiologically effective intensity in any sunset mode selected.

Referring now to FIG. 6A, generally designated at 180 is a graph of thebrightness of sunrise light field illumination with time in one sunsetmode in accord with the present invention. In the sunset mode 180, thebrightness of sunset light field illumination with red spectralcomponents simulating a natural sunset is shown decreasing in magnitude,starting at a time that begins by a short depression of the button 120(FIG. 3) and lasting for a duration that corresponds to a desired sunsetsequence. For example, a typical sleep sequence would be ten (10)minutes of decreasing red-shifted light to signal that the sun has setfollowed by complete darkness to signal nightfall. It is noted that thebrightness of the red-shifted illumination can be manually adjusted bylong depression of the button 120 (FIG. 3).

Referring now to FIG. 6B, generally designated at 190 is a graph of thebrightness of sunset light field illumination with time in anothersunset mode in accord with the present invention. In the sunset mode190, the brightness of sunset light field illumination with red spectralcomponents simulating a natural sunset is shown decreasing in magnitudeand oscillating with a constant period corresponding to the brainwavefrequency of someone who is relaxed or is asleep, starting at a timeinitiated by short pressing the button 120 (FIG. 3) and lasting for aduration that corresponds to a desired sleep sequence. For example, theoscillations may occur at low Delta to guide the user from a wakeful orrelaxed state to a state of deeper relaxation and sleep.

Referring now to FIG. 6C, generally designated at 200 is a graph of thebrightness of sunset light field with time in another sunset mode inaccord with the present invention. In the sunset mode 200, thebrightness of sunset light field illumination with red spectralcomponents simulating a natural sunset is shown decreasing in magnitudeand oscillating with an increasing period corresponding in sequencerespectively to the brainwave frequencies of someone who is relaxed tosomeone who is asleep, starting at a time initiated by short pressingthe button 120 (FIG. 3) and lasting for a duration that corresponds to adesired sleep sequence. For example, the oscillations may begin in highDelta (4 Hz) slowing to low Delta (0.5 Hz) to induce relaxation andsleep.

In any sunset mode, the sunset illumination can be canceled by shortpressing the button 120 (FIG. 3).

U.S. Pat. No. 8,638,950, entitled Digital Sound Relaxation andSleep-inducing System and Method, dated Jan. 28, 2014, to Anderson etal., incorporated herein by reference, discloses among other things aprocessor-implemented sound controller operative to replay sound tracksat progressively slower replay rates in successive time intervals tosynergistically co-act with the listener's biorhythms to induce a stateof deep relaxation that helps the listener to fall asleep. In alternateembodiments, not shown, speakers coupled to the eye mask are providedand the controller of the electronics module of the electro-opticalmodule is operatively coupled thereto and is programmed in differentuser selectable modes to provide sound therethrough in accord with U.S.Pat. No. 8,638,950 alone or in combination with sunset illumination. Aswill be appreciated, when in a programmed combination mode, theco-presence to the ears and eyes of the wearer of selected audio inaccord with U.S. Pat. No. 8,638,950 and of red-shifted illuminationprovided by a selected sunset mode synergistically co-acts to promoterest and to induce sleep.

Referring now to FIG. 7, generally designated at 210 is a signal diagramillustrating one presently preferred tone control protocol implementedby the programmable tone generator of the audio tone programmed hygienicand therapeutic sleep and wake eye mask having remotely controlledsunrise and sunset multimodes of the present invention. As shown bysequence generally designated 212, the protocol preferably isimplemented as a start tone, and a data tone followed by a stop tone.The audio tones corresponding thereto are generally designated 214. Ifshorter data streams and faster programming were desired, a space tonein between data tones could be employed.

One advantageous feature of the tone control protocol is that the lengthof the tone is not critical and does not even need to be consistentbetween tones. It is a sort of adaptive tone decoder and differentiatesthe tone control protocol from a serial connection which is verysensitive to timing. There are twelve (12) different frequenciesrepresenting zero (0) through nine (9) as well as start and stop. Thisallows to send four (4) bits of data with one tone set instead of havingto encode the number that the tone represents with ones (1's) and zeros(0's). A checksum of the data to double check that the data is correctis employed.

In one presently preferred embodiment, the programmable tone controlgenerator uses sound frequencies in the audible range between fivehundred (500) Hz and two thousand (2000) Hz. It is understood that thesame technique could apply to barely audible frequencies such as fifteen(15) kHz to twenty (20) kHz or beyond the range of human hearing(ultrasound) above twenty (20) kHz. This could allow for programming ofthe device with sound using a method that would be perceived to besilent by the user.

The preferred format is as follows, with each digit being a differentfrequency of sound being played, clock time, alarm time, optionsettings. An example would be clock time: 17:29 alarm time: 06:45options: 1529. The options correspond to the different modes and otherparameters that have been selected. For this example,

17:29 06:45 1529

|Start|1|Stop|Start|7|Stop|Start|2|Stop|Start|9|Stop|Start|0|Stop|Start|6|Stop|Start|4|Stop|Start|5|Stop|Start|1|Stop|Start|5|Stop|Start|2|Stop|Start|9|Stop|Start|Checksum|Stop

As mentioned above, this could be reduced to:

|Start|1|Start|7|Start|2|Start|9|Start|0|Start|6|Start|4|Start|5|Start|1|Start|5|Start|2|Start|9|Start|Checksum|Start

This is only to illustrate that it is not a fixed protocol.

It will be appreciated that the controlled information transmission ofthe programmable tone generator will have utility in other applicationswhere there is the need for low cost effective information transferbetween devices.

Many modifications and alternate embodiments of the varioussubassemblies and other modes are possible; for example, an energizemode to address one's mid-afternoon dip in energy is contemplated. Inthis energization mode, for example, the mask is put on and theelectro-optical core subassembly activated for ten (10) minutes withblue light and excitation frequencies consistent with wakefulness.Another mode is a circadian rhythm reset mode. In this mode, the mask isput on and the electro-optical core assembly activated to provide whitelight that oscillates in magnitude with a period corresponding tofrequencies known to affect resetting of the circadian rhythm of thewearer. Reference in this connection may be had to the article entitled“Temporal Integration of Light Flashes by the Human Circadian System,”by Najjar and Zeitzer, appearing at the Journal of ClinicalInvestigation, Clin Invest. Doi:1172/jc182306, dated December, 2015,incorporated herein by reference. In another mode, the processor of theelectronics module of the electro-optical module is programmed tooperate in response to information from REM sensor detection of thesleep or other brain state to awake the user at an optimum point withina morning wake-up interval. If the mask comes off, the lights can't wakethe user in the morning. A solution for this is to use a larger lightsource located somewhere in the bedroom. A bed side lamp could inaddition to or instead of a sleep and wake eye mask be employed;basically, instead of or in addition to illuminating the inside of amask that the user wears, the room is illuminated with the bed side lampor other full spectrum illumination source having blue-shifted and/orred-shifted spectra. The programming is the same, the light colors andpulsing are also the same, in these embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sleep and wake eye mask that is hygienic andreadily cleanable for use on the head when seated on the face andpositioned over the left and right eyes of a user to assimilate thesleep/wake cycle of the user to the natural rhythms of night and day,comprising: a replaceable and/or washable or otherwise cleanable coversubassembly; an electro-optical core subassembly removably insertedwithin said cover subassembly allowing removal of the electro-opticalcore subassembly from a soiled cover subassembly and reinsertion of thesame or another electro-optical subassembly in a cleaned or replacementcover subassembly; said cover subassembly includes a member adapted tobe worn about the head and to comfortably seat against the face over theeyes of the user having walls defining left and right light-tight eyecavities facing the left and right eyes; said electro-optical coresubassembly including an electro-optical module having a user-inputinterface, a controller connected to the user-input interface and alight source connected to said controller that are cooperative toprovide illumination in said left and right eye cavities simulatingnatural sunrises and sunsets in order to assimilate the sleep/wake cycleto the natural rhythms of night and day in accord with user inputsunrise or sunset mode selection and user input start and duration oftherapy control parameters; wherein said member of said coversubassembly includes a first portion of soft, flexible materialproviding said walls defining said left and right eye cavities and asecond portion of flexible opaque material, said first and secondportions of said member of said cover subassembly defining anelectro-optical core subassembly receiving chamber within said coversubassembly into and from which said electro-optical core subassembly isremovably inserted within said cover subassembly; wherein saidelectro-optical core subassembly includes first and second layers oflight blocking material and an intermediate layer of materialtherebetween that includes a cutout to receive said electro-opticalmodule; wherein said electro-optical module of said electro-optical coresubassembly includes an electronics module having said controller andwherein said light source of said electro-optical module of saidelectro-optical core subassembly connected to said controller includesleft and right full-spectrum red, green and blue LED panels; and whereinsaid electro-optical module is inserted in the cutout provided thereforin said intermediate layer of said electro-optical core subassembly. 2.The sleep and wake eye mask of claim 1, wherein a releasable closure isprovided to removably retain said electro-optical core subassembly insaid chamber of said cover subassembly.